Boston bombing suspects did not have valid handgun licenses

April 21, 2013|Reuters

By Jonathan Allen

April 21 (Reuters) - The two brothers suspected in theBoston Marathon bombings, who police say engaged in a gun battlewith officers early Friday after a frenzied manhunt, were notlicensed to own guns in the towns where they lived, authoritiessaid on Sunday.

In the confrontation with police on the streets of a Bostonsuburb, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were armed with handguns,at least one rifle and several explosive devices, authoritiessay.

But neither brother appears to have been legally entitled toown or carry firearms where they lived, a fact that may add tothe national debate over current gun laws. Last week, the U.S.Senate rejected a bill to expand background checks on gunpurchases, legislation that opponents argued would do nothing tostop criminals from buying guns illegally.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in the shootout withpolice, would have been required to apply for a gun license withthe local police department where he lived in Cambridge,Massachusetts.

But there is no record of him having done so, according toCambridge Police Department spokesman Dan Riviello.

Even if he had earlier received a gun license from somewhereoutside Cambridge, that license would have to be registered withCambridge police upon becoming a resident of the city, Riviellosaid. In Massachusetts, gun licenses are issued by municipalpolice departments.

"There is no record of him having a license to carry,"Riviello told Reuters.

Tsarnaev's younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, who was capturedalive on Friday after the manhunt, would have been too young toget a handgun license. Under state law, residents under 21 mayonly apply for a so-called firearms identification card, whichallows the holder to own only rifles that hold 10 rounds or lessand shotguns.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had no record of a firearms ID card inCambridge. The police department in Dartmouth, where Dzhokharwas a student, said they had no record of gun licenses or IDcards for either brother.

Police in nearby New Bedford, where the younger brother mayhave lived in the past, could not confirm on Sunday whether theyhad issued Dzhokhar Tsarnaev a firearms ID card.

Federal law enforcement agencies have not confirmed a fulltally of the brothers' arsenal.

Within hours of their images being released on Thursday, thetwo brothers are accused of shooting dead a MassachusettsInstitute of Technology campus police officer in his car,hijacking at least one car at gunpoint, and of shooting at leastone police officer during the gun battle in nearby Watertown.

(Reporting By Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by PaulThomasch and Eric Beech)